Five Minutes with Joe Ow

IT and Digital Marketing seems to be a big part of your career. Tell us a little bit more about how you became interested in this field?

Joe: I have always been interested in IT and its impact to the world around us, I did a diploma in computer studies in one of the local polytechnics and furthered my studies in Information Systems in Melbourne. Back then, there were not many options in terms of degrees in IT business management in Singapore. The local degree courses then were mainly focused on computer science and programming.

At that time, I saw myself being a bridge between IT and business. I started out in digital marketing, managing digital projects and never looked back ever since. I saw the rise of the Internet, smart phones and digital platforms that accelerated changes in our lives. These changes that we would go through tomorrow, would happen at a rate faster than yesterday. It’s a great equaliser in breaking down borders, language and distance. But there’s a need to find equilibrium; physical vs digital, choice vs convenience, privacy vs efficiency to name a few of the tensions that technology would inevitably introduce.

My last 20 years have been spent in digital agencies and technology consultancies, I find joy in being able to influence, to balance and solve tomorrow’s problems with technology.

What do you think is the role of Technology in the Arts?

Joe: I reckon technology would be a great enabler to:

• Reach newer audience – Technology would allow the Arts to be relevant to digital natives and resonate to them in new ways. Data collected from our new Live streaming service, SISTIC Live have shown that online arts content were able to reach out to a younger audience.

• Reach wider and get more to experience the Arts – Not only were SISTIC Live content able to reach out to a younger audience it was able to reach out to a wider and new set of audience. About 20-30% of the viewers were new to the arts group or to SISTIC. We have been integrating with other consumer platforms like payments and lifestyle applications to distribute our events and reach out to a bigger pool of audience.

• Engage patrons – Technology can create new digital ways to engage and keep patrons interested in the Arts and to get them to step into museums, concert halls and theatres. Other industries and consumer brands have leveraged technology very successfully to engage and convert their customers. The Arts industry needs to play catchup.

• Present the Arts in new way – Technology allows for different and creative ways to present Arts content, whether its virtual tours, 3D representations of arts pieces and venues, gamification, VR, AR augmentation to physical or live streaming.

• Improve overall customer experience – As digital gets more embedded in our daily lives, our expectation changes. Our experience in e-commerce, in transport, in digital payments, in our day to day changes our expectation of accessing the Arts.

  
  

We all know that the Live Events industry has taken a hit due to COVID-19. What do you think is SISTIC’s role in helping to support the work of artists during this period?

Joe: Supporting new ways to present and monetisation of their content, enabling the safe reopening of venues and safe management of crowds. These would be SISTIC’s key focus right now, we want to help arts groups and artists sustain through this period and be able to continue to present their art. The digital medium would never replace the live experience but we would need to prepare for the new post-COVID normal where digital would augment the physical experience.

Supporting the safe resumption of live events would be another focus for us. How can we support resumption of events in a safe and commercially viable manner? I would like to use technology to help with efficient application of social distancing during seating, supporting contact tracing, segregation of groups of patrons to eliminate contacts with other groups or auxiliary services like F&B and merchandise.

What do you dream for the ticketing industry in the future?

Joe: A Magical experience. Arthur C. Clark once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”.

The experience should not be just about the event, a great experience should start before – throughout discovery, consideration, purchase, access, at the event and when you leave the venue. How can technology uplift the overall industry and improve end to end experience? How can SISTIC lead the way in this with our patrons, clients, and partners?

What if I could plan and offer the activities for you and your family? What if I could offer to book your favourite performance in your favourite seats within your budget? What if I could know how the stage would look like from the seat that I bought? What if I could help with getting you to the event, enhancing your experience during the event, and continue your experience for the evening after the event?

Is that a dream? Or can we create magic?

What would you consider your biggest challenge throughout your career?

Joe: That would be steering SISTIC through this pandemic. Never has the arts and events industry been so impacted and for such an extended period. The crisis also presents an opportunity for the company to pivot on digital and data to focus on its new strategy and direction. While we keep an eye on getting through the current challenges, we are preparing for a post-COVID normal.

If you were transported 400 years into the past with no physical belongings, how would you prove that you were from the future?

Joe: I would assume, I am still in Singapore, just the 16th century version.

If so, this would be tough. Singapore was (and still is) an important port in the region, and I believe it was largely a Malay population with foreign influence by the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spaniards. I don’t speak any of those languages. There are probably Chinese settlers or merchants (as a result from Zheng He’s earlier expeditions) in Singapore then. But my mandarin is not my strong point either.

Even if I could be understood, it would be daunting to explain when I came from. With 400 years of difference I could not foretell exact details of major happenings to convince them. They would probably take me for a lunatic with a weird haircut.

What is the most useless secret talent you have?

Joe: I would admit that I am not a man of talents. So maybe instead of talking about a talent, I would share something else. I am one of the few Singaporean males who feels very strongly for our military National Service (NS). I believe in it, and I have been actively servicing since 1997 beyond my NS obligations. It allows me time off from work where I look forward to a different set of responsibilities and challenges. I get to interact with people from different walks of life, and to build lasting connections that only folks in uniform would understand. It also allows me to gain “useless skills” that I cannot apply in normal life, like handling explosives, jumping out of a plane and license to operate different armoured vehicles.

Source: https://aappac.com/en/20-q4-interview-sistic/